Seattle Sounders FC announced today how it will structure season-ticket packages for the 2009 MLS season. The team release:

Seattle Sounders FC Announce Ticket Pricing

KIRKLAND, WASH. — Seattle Sounders FC announced season ticket pricing today for the inaugural 2009 season. Season ticket packages will be based on an 18 home match schedule with prices starting as low as $288 for a full-season ticket package. All home matches will be played at Qwest Field.

“We’ve created a variety of season ticket packages to meet the needs of our passionate soccer fans in the Pacific Northwest,” said majority owner Joe Roth.
Season ticket prices per match are $16, $20, $24, $29 and $35. Ticket prices in Club Wells Fargo are $39 and $75 per match.

Fans seated in $75 ticket sections will receive exclusive benefits that include reserved parking and an all inclusive menu hosted in the FSN Lounge. The menu will feature regional flavors and local ingredients prepared by a personal Chef.

In the north end of the stadium, fans seated in $24 ticket sections will enjoy an all inclusive experience featuring classic stadium food and beverages.

Each season ticket holder will be assigned a personal customer sales representative to assist with their seating selection. Fans who placed deposits for Sounders FC will be sent an e-mail this week inviting them to submit
their seating preferences through an interactive website.

=> Read more!

Actually, "big derby" doesn't quite do either game justice.

The Derby della Madonnina – AC Milan v Internazionale – is on Fox Soccer Channel at 6 a.m. This edition doesn't have quite the usual high stakes but there is still plenty for both teams to play for: Inter could all but clinch the Scudetto with a win, while Milan is trying to salvage Serie A's last Champions League spot. A big time glamor match.

But the really, really cool game is El Superclassico at noon, also on FSC: Boca Juniors y River Plate at La Bombonera. You can have Real Madrid v Barcelona, or Tottenham v Arsenal, America v Chivas – for me, this one is it.

Of course, you may disagree. Your favorite derby?

UDPATE: Our photo editor Jeremy Harrison put together this sweet gallery about Boca Juniors that convinces me more than ever that the Observer got it right when it put El Superclassico at the top of this list.

A little more detail about the Brazil-Canada game at Qwest Field has been released, including the fact that tickets go on sale Monday morning.

Here's the release from Sounders FC.

The May 31 game at Qwest is a go, the Associated Press reports.

As the story notes, Brazil will be tuning up for World Cup qualifiers two weeks later. With the European season over, it's very likely that they will be bringing all their stars.

Tasty.

The USL Seatte Sounders fell to 0-1-1 on the season after a 2-0 loss at Portland on Saturday night.

Here's a report from The Oregonian, and below is the release from the Sounders:

The Seattle Sounders second game of the year ended in a 2-0 loss with goals from Takayuki Suzuki and Miguel Guante for Portland.

Traveling to a hostile venue at PGE Park in Portland for the first game of the Cascadia cup, the match was exciting and intense with nearly 30 shots and 21 fouls combined.

Coming off a 1-1 draw in Charleston, the Sounders got off to a shaky in the first minute when a missed clearance by Kevin Sakuda led to a low cross from Chris Brown that was just cleared.

After escaping early trouble, the Sounders were able to enjoy some possession, but the Timbers got on the scoreboard early when an incredible strike by Takayuki Suzuki in the seventh minute gave Portland the advantage. The play started with a long ball that was lobbed in and found Suzuki who dribbled left and shot from 20 yards and hit top shelf for the goal.

The Sounders didn't panic after the score. With Leighton O'Brien back with the side after missing last week's game with a hip pointer, the Sounders midfield played with more confidence and maturity and gradually began to pressure the Timbers backline.

Seattle seemed sure to score in the 23rd when Taylor Graham had a header on an open net, but the challenge was good and the header went wide.

As the half progressed, though enjoying a majority of the possession and weaving into the box multiple times, Seattle was unable to find a finish touch sending in 11 shots in the half, but forcing keeper Ray Burse to make only three saves.

The second half kicked off to tentative start as both sides looked to feel each other out again. As the 60th minute approached, only Portland had taken one shot in the half.

Seattle nearly scored in the 69th minute when Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar whipped in a cross that found Kenji Treschuk's head, but the save was made by Ray Burse.

With the 80th minute approaching, the Timbers began to look for the dagger and in the 76th minute Miguel Guante scored the second Timbers goal. The goal started with Suzuki coming down the right side who found Guante who hit the left corner past a diving Chris Eylander.

In the 84th minute Sebastien LeToux nearly got one back when he sent in a screaming shot that was saved well by Burse.

In the span of two minutes near the 90th minute the Sounders created three corner kicks to add to the 10 they already had created.

The game ended with Portland earning the 2-0 victory.

One of the few downsides to Seattle's promotion into MLS is the at least temporary loss of its Northwest rivalries with Vancouver, and -- especially -- Portland.

I say "at least temporary" because both Vancouver and Portland have MLS hopes, so the Interstate-5 rivlarly and a higher-level Cascadia Cup may resurrect one day.

In any case, today kicks off the final season of the Sounders-Timbers' USL rivalry, as the teams meet at PGE Park.

The teams meet again May 10 in Seattle, the Sounders' home opener and their only game this season at Qwest Field.

Here's the preview from the Sounders:

SOUNDERS TO FACE TIMBERS IN PORTLAND
The Sounders (0-0-1) travel this Saturday to Portland to take on their arch-rivals, the Timbers, at PGE Park at 7 p.m. A fixture that's never short on excitement, the Sounders will be looking for their first win of the season in the first of two visits to the Rose City.

Playing just their second match of the 2008 campaign, the Sounders are coming off a 1-1 draw against the Charleston Battery where a second half equalizer in stoppage time from Kenji Treschuk, saved a point for the visiting Sounders.

FIRST GAME OF THE CASCADIA CUP
Playing just their second match of the 2008 campaign, the Sounders are coming off a 1-1 draw against the Charleston Battery where a second half equalizer in stoppage time from Kenji Treschuk, saved a point for the visiting Sounders.

"Obviously, stealing a point away from home, in the first game of the year, when we weren?t in top shape, was great. In 2006 we missed the playoffs by one point, so getting a point in Charleston was very important", said Coach Schmetzer.

Seattle won three of its four meetings with Portland last year, but the Timbers still finished only three points behind Seattle in the final table.

"I expect a hard, physical game, it always is when we play Portland", said Schmetzer. "They probably feel like they should have been in the final with us last year."

Portland is the second of three away games for the Sounders before the season opener at Qwest Field on May 10th. The Timbers won their first game of the season 1-0 over Puerto Rico with a late goal from Chris Brown.

GAME NOTES
Portland plays their second game of the season tonight against the Minnesota Thunder at PGE Park.
Scratched from the starting line-up late last Saturday with a hip pointer injury, Leighton O?Brien will be recovered for the Portland trip.
Goalkeeper Chris Eylander was named to the USL first division team of the week for saving nine shots including a penalty in Charleston.
The Timbers will travel to Seattle in two weeks for the Sounders home opener at Qwest Field.
Saturday's game will be just the second time that Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, the Timbers all time assists leader, returns to play Portland.

Yahoo has an interesting overview on the possibility of Sounders FC bringing Thierry Henry to Seattle.

It details his interest in the Unites States -- especially New York -- and in Seattle's interest in him -- and the bigger implication that Sounders FC plans not to be some meek little expansion team, but one of the serious soccer sides in North America.

Everybody's out with their list of worst penalty misses following Ronaldo's shocker yesterday v Barcelona at Camp Nou.

A good selection here at the Mirror in UK.

Who can forget No. 7?

UPDATE: Good call, Gunner. You're not half bad for an Arsenal man.

Here indeed is Martin "El Loco" Palermo – prolific and deadly for Boca – on the day that explains why he only made seven international appearances for Argentina.

Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Chris Eylander was placed on the USL first division team of the week after his performance in the team's season-opening draw at Charleston.

Here is the release from the Sounders:

Seattle Sounders goalkeeper, Chris Eylander, was honored with USL first division team of the week honors for saving nine shots including a penalty kick in the team’s 1-1 draw in Charleston.

Eylander, who led the league in saves last year with 109, started off the 2008 season with a dominating performance turning back the Charleston attack with an array of spectacular saves.

Down 1-0 the Sounders looked sure to go down two goals when a penalty was awarded in the 61st minute, but Eylander’s diving save kept the game within reach and Kenji Treschuk equalized in stoppage time.

The Sounders next match is April 26th against the Portland Timbers and can be seen live on USLlive.com. The Sounders home opener is May 10th at Qwest field.

Over the years we have resigned ourselves to the hostility our game seems to inspire in many of America's most prominent sports journalists. It seems like that's fading away to some extent – with the web and all, it just doesn't matter much what those guys think.

Gratefully, you don't see stuff like this too often anymore.

At any rate, one of those bigtime guys, John Feinstein of the Washington Post, gets it right in a column today. To wit:

My sense as an outsider is that most soccer people now take the attitude that if you don't get their sport, it is your loss.

The column recounts his days covering the Washington Diplomats in the old NASL days, the year that Johan Cruyff played there. It's good stuff.

PS: Anybody remember that Cruyff goal v the Sounders he talks about?

UPDATE: Strike that. Found it. At 1:03 in this one. Made a lot of fools look sick, over and over and over again.

Seattle P-I had a quick interview Monday with Kasey Keller on the prospects of his returning home to play with the Sounders in their inaugural MLS season.

On the surface this would seem a natural fit: native son goalkeeper returns home to play with the local side at the end of a long and distinguished career for clubs and country.

But there are issues. Reading between the lines in the P-I story, it appears that Kasey ain't gonna come cheap. And as we've said before, it just doesn't make any sense to use the Sounders' one designated player slot – i.e., the one payroll spot on the team where they can pay someone more than $400,000 – on a goalkeeper.

Of course, everybody's reported previously that Marcus Hahnemann wouldn't mind the gig either.

But the bigger issue is this: Does Kasey still got it? Anybody watch the Fulham v Liverpool game on Saturday?

Nutmegged by Peter Effin Crouch. It was particularly painful when the next day you could watch Brad Friedel stone Manchester United.

The USL Seattle Sounders opened their new -- and final -- season with a 1-1 draw at Charleston.

Here's the report from the Sounders' Web site.

I suspect many Mariners supporters aren't necessarily fans of the work of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane. The A's, after all, have made the playoffs in five of the last eight seasons in the Mariners' division while spending considerably less on the team payroll.

Beane's approach to building a team on a tight budget was chronicled in the book "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game".

An article in today's Guardian describes how Beane would approach assembling a soccer team using his Moneyball principles. He is a part owner of the MLS team in San Jose and a supporter of Tottenham of the EPL.

Over the past five years Beane has developed an emotional attachment of his own, to Spurs. He watches English football on cable TV whenever he can, is an avid listener of the Guardian's weekly football podcast and has also forged some close friendships with leading figures in the English game, including Spurs' chief executive, Damien Comolli. He has also started working with Professor Bill Gerrard from Leeds Business School with a view to developing a system for evaluating football players based on statistics gathered during games. "Big teams like Manchester United can get the best players because they have got the resources but most clubs can't do business the Manchester United way and expect to survive, never mind compete. The trick is to find a way to compete, using metrics [statistics] and finding areas that have been neglected," he said.

According to the article, here are some of the "metrics" that can be applied to soccer and used with a Beane-like approach:

=> Read more!

The USL division-one Sounders don't open at home for a couple of weeks, but they start their regular season in Charleston this week and then jump to the Northwest for a game at Portland next week.

Here's a preview from www.oursportscentral.com, a very good minor-league sports site.

(It also shows the Charleston crest, which I have mentioned before as my favorite in U.S. soccer.)

By the way, we'll have a Sounders season preview in the paper later, in advance of their home opener.

Here's our coverage from the Thursday paper.

Cesar Villaluz's goal in the 14th minute stood up the rest of the way.

Villaluz was named the player of the match.

The score doesn't accurately reflect Mexico's donimation.

By the end, a few dozen paper airplanes littered the field, but most of the fans in green remained standing and chanting to the end.

The crowd of 56,416 was the fourth largest in Seattle soccer history and the third largest soccer crowd at Qwest Field, behind Man U.-Celtic and Madrid-DC United.

Unfortunately, they're seeing a pretty dreary game ... one of those 1-0 routs, with China seeming pretty helpless and Mexico missing a lot of chances.

Judging from the number of paper airplanes coming off the upper deck, I get the impression the fans are restless.

Amazing it's that close. Mexico has dominated the flow of play, and China has been really sloppy on their end.

They got away with all of it, except for a Cesar Villaluz goal in the 14th minute, finishing from about 15 yards.

The Mexican national team has just taken the pitch at Qwest Field for their friendly match against China.

The flashbulbs are popping.

I've been at the stadium for about two and a half hours, and the excitement has been building.

First there was a lot of traffic just getting to a mid-week friendly ... pretty impressive right there.

But its just fun to see how much fun everyone is having. This is certainly the biggest Seattle soccer buzz I've felt since Man U.-Celtic, and maybe even beyond that.

Early arriving fans stood in long lines at the stadium gates, listening to salsa music and watching the dancers.

Thousands passed time at the Futbol Fiesta, in the north parking lot. Among the entertainment options were a booth where fans could have their picture taken alongside a lifesize cutout of the Mexican national team, or try to score a goal on a live keeper, or to hit targets on a lifesize picture of a keeper – with points scored for putting the ball beyond his outstretched arm or directly into his groin.

There also was a huge green Mexico jersey – about the size of a Macy’s parade balloon – which fans could sign, eventually using a ladder to get up toward the shoulders.

Mexico jerseys and caps were by far the most popular item worn by fans. A handful of Brazil jerseys also are visible. One could look long and hard to find any obvious China fans. I saw a whole section of red jerseys, but when I took a closer look the logo was a pair of golden arches.

Also largely absent were any logos representing the teams of Major League Soccer.

However, there also is an obvious presence of Sounders FC all around -- including a ticket-information booth on the main concourse and regular adds appearing on the scoreboards on both ends -- all in English and Spanish.

Are you heading up to Qwest Field tomorrow night to see Mexico v China?

Don will be there to cover the game and we're trying to get another reporter to do a fan piece. (Alas, I won't be able to make it. I have a men's league game to ref, and the assignors don't like it when you turn back matches for anything less than an amputation.)

But who better to do the fan piece than ... you – the fans?

Comments welcome here.

I can't say that I regularly lurk on the Big Soccer boards, but I thought this post raised an interesting question.

Long story short, it's posed by a person who said he thought he'd long ago given up on professional sports, but he was bitten by the football bug in the 2006 World Cup. Now the Sounders (MLS version) are coming. What's it going to cost him to be a fan?

One point that worried him was the cost of tickets and then food and beer at Qwest Field.

So consider: A soccer game need not entail the home equity loan required to attend, say, a Mariners or Seahawks game.

If kickoff is at 7 p.m., get there at 6:45, join in the singing and chanting, watch the first half (45 minutes), mill about for halftime (5-10 minutes), watch the second half (another 45 minutes) and then stream out into the night with your fellow happy supporters.

If you wanted to stop at your local on the way in or on the way home, that's your biz. But investment at the stadium (of time, at least) equals no more than two hours, max.

Surely you can get enough in ya before hand to keep the hunger pangs at bay and slake your thirst without having to drop a small fortune for food and beverage at the park, no?

Do you think these guys waste any time eating?

Seattle native Marcus Hahnemann currently is the goalkeeper for Reading of the English Premier League. He's expected to start Saturday in the Royals' home match against Fulham at Madejski Stadium.

According to getreading.co.uk, Hahnemann eventually would like to bring his game to Seattle's MLS team. (This is not particularly new; we had a previous post on the subject.)

Hahnemann, aged 35, who started his playing career at Colorado Rapids, said: “I could commute from my cabin. We (his family) have always thought eventually when we’re done that we would go back, but you never know when that will be. We always talked about if a team did start up in Seattle then we’d want to go back at some stage.

“Now there is going to be one. They are doing everything right and eventually when Reading don’t want me any more and I get sick of driving on the wrong side of the road and buying petrol instead of gas then I might leave."

A developer who was one a part-owner of the Seattle Sounders -- the non-MLS version -- is proposing a 6,000-seat soccer stadium in Poulsbo, according to a story by Chuck Stark in The Kitsap Sun.

(Robin)Waite hopes to use the stadium as home for a professional soccer team in USL Division I, one step down from Major League Soccer. He originally tried to make a deal with Kitsap County to renovate Thunderbird Stadium at the Fairgrounds, but that proposal fell through.

Waite is still talking with USL officials about relocating the Sounders, the defending USL Division I champs, to this side of the Puget Sound. If that happen, he'll hold a name-the-team contest because Seattle's Major League Soccer team, which begins play in 2009, has adopted the name Seattle Sounders FC.

"Having the Sounders over here would be great for us," he said. "It's a well-known name, but it would have been a real mistake to not name the (MLS) team the Sounders."

The Sounders -- that is, the old Sounders who have not only a logo but a team -- play their second-to-last preseason exhibition match at French Field in Kent at 4:15 p.m. Saturday against the Washington Huskies.

They close out their exhibition season the next day in at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham.

The Sounders open their regular season next Saturday, visiting Charleston (which for my money has the best crest in U.S. soccer). The Sounders home opener comes May 10 at Qwest Field against Portland.

More information is available at the Sounders' Web site.

The rosters were announced today for the China-Mexico match coming up Wednesday at Qwest Field.

Here's the announcement:

NEW YORK (Friday, April 11, 2008) – Mexican National Team head coach Jesús Rámirez and China national team coach Vladimir Petrovic announced their side’s rosters for the upcoming international match between the two teams on Wednesday, April 16 (8:00 p.m., PT) at Qwest Field in Seattle.

Tickets sales for the match have surpassed the 40,000 mark. Due to the incredible response from the local soccer community, the east and west side of the upper level at Qwest Field will be opened to accommodate the demand. Tickets at $20 and $30 can be purchased through calling Ticketmaster at 206.628.0888, visiting www.mlsinseattle.com or www.ticketmaster.com, in person at all Ticketmaster outlets, or in person at the Qwest Field Box Office (open Monday-Friday from 10am-5pm; Saturday 10am -2pm). The Federación Mexicana de Futbol welcomes fans to purchase tickets with their Visa card.

ROSTER - MEXICO
GOALKEEPERS: Oswaldo Sanchez (Santos Laguna), José de Jesús Corona (Tecos UAG)

DEFENDERS: Leobardo López (Pachuca), Patricio Araujo (CD Guadalajara), Fausto Pinto (Pachuca), Adrián Aldrete (Morelia), Omar Trujillo (Morelia), Omar Esparza (CD Guadalajara), Alejandro Castro (Cruz Azul)

MIDFIELDERS: Sergio Amaury Ponce (Toluca), Luis Ernesto Pérez (Monterrey), Jorge Hernández (Atlas), Antonio Naelson (Toluca), Carlos Gerardo Martínez (Pachuca), José Joel González (Monterrey)

FORWARDS: Sergio Santana (CD Guadalajara), Juan Carlos Cacho (Pachuca), Cesar Villaluz (Cruz Azul), Pablo Barrera (Pumas UNAM), Christian Bermúdez (Atlante)

Manager: Jesús Ramírez

=> Read more!

Officials of the MLS franchise in Seattle announced today that the team will be called Seattle Sounders FC.

Tod Leiweke, CEO of Vulcan Sports & Entertainment, made the announcement at a press conference at the Space Needle. The name was the result of a fan poll that attracted over 15,000 votes.

Seattle Sounders FC was a write-in winner in a field of names that included Seattle FC, Seattle Republic and Seattle Alliance. Some form of the nickname Sounders got 82 percent of the vote.

The team's new Web address: www.soundersfc.com.

The team is scheduled to begin play at Qwest Field in 2009.

The MLS team in Seattle is scheduled to announce its name at noon today in Seattle.

We'll post the news here when it's available.

In the meantime, John McGrath wrote about the name selection in his column this morning.

The folks running the Seattle MLS team will reveal the name, colors and logo of their team at noon on Monday.

As you know, the team conducted a poll last month asking fans to help choose one of three names: Seattle FC, Alliance or Republic. The team also allowed write-in votes for any other name.

MLS Seattle sent out a release today about the availability of tickets for the Mexico-China match this month. Tickets are still available.

Tickets Going Fast For Mexico vs. China at Qwest Field on April 16

KIRKLAND, WASH. – Tickets sales for the upcoming match between the national teams of Mexico and China on Wednesday, April 16 at Qwest Field have surpassed the 35,000 mark.

Due to the incredible response of the local soccer community, the east side of the upper level at Qwest Field will be opened to accommodate the demand. Seats located at midfield in the upper level vary in price from $20 - $30. Tickets can be purchased through the following avenues.
1. By calling Ticketmaster at 206.628.0888
2. Visiting www.mlsinseattle.com or www.ticketmaster.com
3. In person at all Ticketmaster outlets
4. In person at the Qwest Field Box Office
Open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. -2 p.m.

The match is the first in Mexico’s 2008 U.S. Tour, and will be followed by games against Argentina on Wednesday, June 4 at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium, and Peru on Sunday, June 8 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

=> Read more!